Venezuela is planning to move fast with a new mining joint venture announced this week with Spokane, Washington-based Gold Reserve Inc. and will start extracting the precious metal within six months, according to central bank President Nelson Merentes.

The government will have a 55 percent to 60 percent stake in the new venture, while Gold Reserve and partners from the U.S., Germany, and Canada will control 40 percent to 45 percent, Merentes said Friday in an interview in his office in Caracas, adding that the consortium will be incorporated within a month.

"The venture involves the largest gold producer in the world and the largest copper producer," Merentes said, declining to name the companies that will join the project with Gold Reserve. "There are already global banks, investment funds, and people with capital who want to invest. This agreement will bring liquidity to help the state meet its commitments."

The joint venture resolves an arbitration dispute with Gold Reserve and will bring funds totaling $5 billion into the country that will help shore up international reserves that have declined with the price of oil, Merentes said. The investment and new gold production will diversify the country's sources of foreign currency earnings and allow it to continue making payments on international debt, he added. ...

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